Nike Launched Its First Swimsuit Series With Headscarf To Help Women Overcome Sports Obstacles

Exercise is everyone's right. But does everyone really enjoy this right?

In every corner of the world, there are always some ethnic groups who give up sports for various reasons, including religious reasons, physiological reasons, environmental reasons, etc.

For example, a large number of female consumers around the world have special needs and preferences for swimming equipment, such as better coverage and higher sun protection levels. They are eager to experience the unique charm of water sports, but their experience is weakened or excluded due to lack of appropriate equipment. For them, the tight and bare traditional swimsuit has brought many obstacles to their participation in water sports, so they have to wear a thick and fat special swimsuit or simply give up swimming.

As Nike received more and more feedback from athletes from different groups, they found that the main pain points of women's water sports equipment were the following: unable to drain water for a long time, unable to fully cover, no sunscreen protection, lack of functionality, and the headscarf in water was prone to problems.

Recently, Nike launched a swimsuit series for women with special needs - the Nike Victory Swim swimsuit series. This series includes independent water sports accessories such as the Nike Victory Full Coverage Swimsuit Swimsuit Set, the Nike Swim Hijab Swimsuit Headband, the Nike Victory Tunic Tunic Tunic Swimsuit Top and the Nike Victory Legging Swimsuit Bottom to ensure that the wearer can move freely in the water. In addition, the swimsuit is equipped with a drainage system from head to foot, and uses lightweight, breathable and quick drying materials. At the same time, the sun protection level can reach UPF40+.

Shaikha Al Saud, a female swimmer from Saudi Arabia, said after testing the swimsuit, "From the functional point of view, what I value most is drainage. The built-in gill structure means that water will not stay on the swimsuit, so I will feel very light when sliding in the water."

In fact, this is not the first time Nike has introduced new sports equipment to help more women overcome sports obstacles.

As early as 2017, Nike launched a professional sports headband for female athletes - Pro Hijab to meet special needs. In the past, many female athletes, out of religious belief, could only wear headscarves made of traditional materials to participate in competitions. But these headbands are not suitable for sports. At that time, Nike's sports headband was made of lightweight polyester material, with millions of holes in the mesh layer, which greatly improved the permeability of the headband during sports and provided a more suitable choice for many female athletes in fencing, boxing and skating events.

Nike has always emphasized the brand's tolerant attitude towards multiculturalism in marketing. In addition to the above products designed to enable more women to participate in sports, Nike has also launched targeted products for athletes with different shapes, needs and disabilities in recent years:

　　 Lace free basketball shoes

In 2015, Nike launched Nike FlyEase series shoes for disabled athletes. This kind of product is specially designed to make it more convenient for disabled athletes to put on and take off their sneakers and exercise. The special zipper and strap design is convenient for athletes to operate the heel on and off with one hand, and the looped velcro adjustment system at the eyelet helps athletes slide in and out easily.

In 2019, Elena Delle Donn, the former MVP winner of the WNBA, took inspiration from her disabled sister Lizzie and incorporated the FlyEase system four years ago into the design of the new basketball shoe Air Zoom UNVRS to ensure that both men and women, the able-bodied and the disabled can easily wear and take off the actual basketball shoes. At the same time, Nike's Jordan brand also launched the Air Jordan I sneaker with FlyEase system.

　　 Plus size sports bra

In the spring and summer of 2019, Nike launched a new sports bra, Nike FE/NOM Flyknit Bra, which combines a new sewing process and applies Flyknit fabric to sports underwear - it can change the support strength of the underwear according to the change of the wearer's sports state. In addition, the spring and summer 2019 Nike sports underwear series includes 57 styles, spanning three support strengths, and the maximum cup size can reach 44G, which can cover more female consumers of different shapes.

　 Running shoes for joggers

In 2019, Nike's chief designer Tinker Hatfield got inspiration from a conversation he had with Nike founder Phil Knight. In the dialogue, 81 year old Knight mentioned that he still keeps the habit of walking 8 miles every day, but Knight stressed: "I am actually running, but the speed is very slow, so slow that it is like walking."

So Hatfield went back to study the needs of slow runners like Knight, and designed a pair of running shoes - CruzrOne, which is suitable for "slow" runners around the world. In order to cater to the unique movement mode of the foot during jogging, this running shoe uses the thickest Nike REACT cushioning foam of all Nike products so far, and the heel is specially designed as an upward arc, so that when the wearer runs slowly with his foot following the ground, the sole can complete the smooth touch process like a wheel, making every step smooth and natural.

Nike said that they hope to let a wider range of people participate in the sports through these innovative product designs. This also reflects the value that Nike has repeatedly emphasized in its advertisements: "As long as you have a body, you are an athlete."